76 Comments - Valerie F. Leonard - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:12 am: Why don’t the moderate Republicans who disagree with the Governor get more press? The MSM seems perfectly content to make it look as if Madigan is the only one who is having difficulty holding his caucus together. - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:12 am: Deal a budget. End the horrendous management practices. Do those two things, and you could be a pretty successful governor. - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:14 am: “Moderate, practical House Republican members are crucial to solving this mess.” Fortunately, Illinois still has moderate, practical Republicans. Some of them even grace the comments on this site. [waves] It’s a shame they weren’t listened to earlier. – MrJM - Solid Dwight - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:15 am: I refuse to believe moderate House Republicans got to Rauner. It was Ken Dunkin. He said so. - Roamin' Numeral - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:17 am: ==Moderate, practical House Republican members are crucial to solving this mess.== If only there were more than 7 or 8 of them. - Cassandra - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:22 am: Still, there may be some tough budget votes coming up and these are Republicans, elected by Republicans. What happens when,say, those targeted for the application of new service taxes start writing and calling and not campaign-contributing. Or those losing corporate tax “loopholes.” Alas, I fear the Repubs would cave fast. That leaves Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class holding the higher tax bag, of course. An even bigger bag than various plans suggest, because they have to get the money somewhere. And the Repubs, despite their rhetoric, really don’t care that much about the middle class. - Hedley Lamarr - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:23 am: =why don’t they get more press?= Because they don’t follow the Trib line. - Retired Lawyer - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:24 am: The question that I have is what consideration and in what amount was provided Dunkin to side with Rauner? I am sure that he did not do so solely because of concerns about good government. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:25 am: I’m so hoping a lesson will be learned and ALL reps will vote in the best interest of their constituents on BOTH sides. Rauner has been a disaster for legitimate conservative concerns. I hope they find redemption and atonement after meeting Rauner at the crossroads at midnight. Conversely I hope that Dems act within the bounds of good government as well. I know it’s naive to hope. But I think that we have to keep exposing the hypocrisy and lifting up the suffering and bring it to light. Let’s box both Rauner and Madigan. I just hope it’s not too late to stop the Rauner shift towards the 1% and privatization. I think the layoffs will start soon. - Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:25 am: I’d love to believe that moderate GOP members will be a significant force in a budget compromise, but Rauner money will keep most GOP in line. These issues worked for the moderates because a few crossovers were all that was needed to effect the results. - ILPundit - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:27 am: It only took a week for a story to finally point out obvious: that all the wailing about Ken Dunkin was a sideshow to hide the real story last week — the fact that the Governor caved on Monday to his own Republican legislators demands. Everyone said Madigan was a big loser last week, but I just don’t see it. The Governor started the week by caving on several major issues with no Democratic concessions. He secured Dunkin’s vote (which the House Dems already knew was a likely outcome). He strung out the GOP on even more bad votes. And by trumpeting their alliance with Dunkin, have effectively given up the rhetorical talking point of the Governor’s ability to pass something with his veto proof majority. Most importantly, Rauner signaled that when push comes to shove, he doesn’t try to deal, he capitulates. Exactly the wrong message to send to the Democrats. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:28 am: To paraphrase Grit TV: The GA - Legislators with back bone. About time these people start speaking up and get listened to. If 10-12 of them (Ds and Rs) get together and stay together, they could be a serious power block. - ILPundit - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:28 am: Above should say “Madigan’s ability to pass something with his veto proof majority.” Oops - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:29 am: This. This all day. There is a very specific reason I have bemoaned the ideal of autonomous GOP Caucuses, and this is why. Enough. Enough “bad” votes. Enough not voting your history or district. Enough denying your own constituency. Enough. When Pate had the Pate described “Gorillas”, the point was, “Governor, either make your case, or they walk.” There wasn’t undue, complete session, underpinning of voting keys. It allowed the doable. It allowed a governor to do the doable and find common ground. It allowed successes. It moved things forward, it kept the undoable at bay. Enough. I root for the GOP Caucuses. It makes me terribly disappointed when the molting of reasonable members of the GOP GA became Owls. Enough. I look forward to Leaders Durkin and Radogno to see this type of “revolt” as a way to help Gov. Rauner to find a stride and do the doable. That’s always been my Hope. Help the governor by flexing autonomy. Cobble the totals based on the merits, not the fear of Rauner demerits. Enough. I’m with the GOP GA, when they decide helping means working, not just the Hooting. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:32 am: I think next year will be the key for exiting or retiring GOP officials. Duffy of course will do nothing in the Senate, but perhaps people like Leitch, Tryon, Moffitt and maybe even Brown will cross the figurative aisle on a few issues. I’m certain that most targets (i.e. Avery Bourne or Terry Bryant) won’t budge, but perhaps more pragmatic, senior members will. I have a feeling that the ends of petitions, the holidays and primary season will soften a lot of partisanship. Or maybe I’m just dreaming and need to go back to bed given the 50 MPH winds that are currently beating on Springfield. - Huh? - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:33 am: What compromise did the governor make on child care? How is walking back his own decision to reduce benefits a compromise? He made 2 decisions using his executive authority to change the child care benefits. Where is the compromise? - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:34 am: I think you’re totally right Cassandra. Only I believe that there actually isn’t much of a middle class left. I read a study recently that claimed that true middle class here in the Metro East would be a family of 4 with income of 120k. Not many meet that anymore. No when they start talking about raising sales tax that’s going to hit the working class, poor, elderly and disabled. Now they are going to go after retirees. No I would say the middleclass is already finished. The denial of this reality is part of the problem. Nobody wants to admit they are no longer middleclass. - walker - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:35 am: Good. Another reason to stop calling them all “mushrooms.” No one could get away with calling either Harris or McSweeney anything but very “Conservative” to their faces. They are not “moderate” on most issues. But they are indeed practical and reasonable, (and ethical). They both understand financials extremely well. Add to them the Dem and Repub legislators who came up with more general compromise positions on the Turnaround agenda and budget — which reportedly was “not enough” for Rauner. Dunkin was a distraction, cleverly created by him and Rauner, and they got away with it for a while. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:40 am: As long as the governor continues to retreat from the strategy of reckless hostage-taking, he can claim victory all day long as far as I’m concerned. I suspect the GA members from university and college towns will be the next to walk. Nobody can spin starving their district’s economic engine for some vague notions of “reform” for which no tangible benefits have been articulated. The quicker we move past this fiasco the better. It’s going to take a long time to clean up the mess of this “leverage” strategy. - Kodachrome - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:41 am: But how can this be? They are all bought and paid for by BR with $20 mil. Clearly, they don’t have minds of their own. How do I know this? OW says so. Could it possibly be, maybe just maybe, that they agree with BR as far as wanting to take down MJM’s power at least a notch, even if they don’t agree with BR’s turnaround agenda, and that they think such power reduction is of primary importance to the future success of this state? Is that at all possible?? And let me know when the Dem House caucus decides they are interested in “doing the doable”, compromising, when it means going against the wishes of their leader, because I only see one who was willing to do so thus far, and he a) likely mainly did it in order to get something in return from BR, and b) has been absolutely trashed by most on this blog. He is the only caucus member thus far who’s had the stones to defy the Speaker, Franks notwithstanding. More of THAT too, Willy. It’s high time for the mushrooms to tell ALL the leaders to go scratch and work on compromises and get enough darn bipartisan votes. - Jack Stephens - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:42 am: @valerie: Who EXACTLY is the “MSM”? Fox News? Or are they somehow separate from the MSM? Is Capitol Fax? Is the Chicago Tribune the MSM (which has endorsed every Republican Prseidential Candidate except for 1)? - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:42 am: ==he doesn’t try to deal, he capitulates. Exactly the wrong message to send to the Democrats.== @ILPundit - are you suggesting the better course is to continue their ==war==, rejecting compromise, until one of them ==wins==? If you are, that looks to be the course things are on according to this morning’s Pantagraph. Editorial: Madigan more interested in games than solutions - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:43 am: “The question that I have is what consideration and in what amount was provided Dunkin to side with Rauner? I am sure that he did not do so solely because of concerns about good government.” Nuh-uh. Ken Dunkin assured me that he is simply the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life, i.e. https://twitter.com/MisterJayEm/status/666416649839382534 – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:43 am: Do not feed trolls. - burbanite - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:47 am: So it wasn’t Dunkin and the Gov he controls? It was Madigan and the moderate Republicans he controls? The MSM is ignoring what is truly happening on the ground, painting an inaccurate narrative of what is really happening, which the uninformed accept at face value. - Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:47 am: ===Add to them the Dem and Repub legislators who came up with more general compromise positions on the Turnaround agenda and budget — which reportedly was “not enough” for Rauner.=== Yes! And let’s hope that while it once “was not enough” for Rauner, it may soon be enough for Rauner if he continues to do a better job of compromising/retreating (I don’t care what people call it). I’m actually less optimistic that this compromise will be enough for the pouting Speaker. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:50 am: @Honeybear - Very well said. They are going to be hit by the next income tax increase as well. - Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:51 am: Some GOP members lobby the Gov to soften his stance, the issue is viable, he listens, and changes course. He’d lost the issue anyway, there was no win to be had. No pound of flesh, no insinuation to slate candidates against the legislators - just focus on the issue, do what’s right, and claim victory in the press. Much more effective on every level than what the other side’s power plays have wrought on the same matter. Who’s becoming the chessmaster now? - Wensicia - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:51 am: If you set up a crisis as leverage, there has to be a ending point. Rauner would not agree to that, and was more than happy to allow the suffering of thousands to continue indefinitely until he got what he wanted. I’m happy to see a few GOP members say enough is enough. For Rauner, it was enough to score a few political points off of Madigan by using Dunkin. People who had their services restored aren’t exactly winners, but they did get back most of what was taken from them…for now. - Anon221 - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:55 am: Which Repubs “walked” on the bipartisan, bicarmel budget proposal a month ago? Inquiring minds want to know. Seems like there were some sensible people in the room on both sides. Did they get attacked by owls??? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:55 am: - Lincoln Lad - Rauner retreated, used Dunkin as the life raft, after Rauner himself started this whole fiasco. The Dunkin move is as good as it gets, but it was also the thwart a revolt on another flank. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:58 am: Wordslinger, you have it in a nutshell, as usual - ILPundit - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 9:59 am: @Formerly Known As… I don’t want to see the war continue any more than you. But the heart of the matter is that Rauner is asking for three poison pills that the Democrats cannot deliver: weakening of prevailing wage, elimination of key collective bargaining rights for public employee unions, and causation in workers compensation reform. There are a lot of things in both proposals leaked yesterday that represent major concessions for all sides. Rainer rejected the bi-partisan version as too weak, because of dissatisfaction in dealing with the three big issues he wants. This is not just about Madigan refusing to compromise. Put any other member in the Speakers chair, and the votes still would not exist to pass those poison pills. If you can’t get the votes, you need to move on to other issues. I think if the Governor learned to accept, and dropped the hard line on the three poison pills, in favor of many of the other reforms in the two compromise proposals, things could move forward much more easily. - logic not emotion - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:00 am: I would applaud not only the moderate Republicans who are pressuring the Governor; but also ask that the moderate Democrats to stand up and pressure the Speaker and President to work out a compromise. It needs to be a two way street or it just isn’t going to work. - Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:02 am: What is really evident is the disservice that newspaper editorial boards can do when they don’t have their facts straight. But more appropriately, their coddling of Dunkin’ is more likely a function of their partisanship and dislike of Madigan. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:13 am: –People who had their services restored aren’t exactly winners, but they did get back most of what was taken from them…for now.– Sorry, I’m going to get totally passionate about this and I hope my comment is allowed to stand. THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG. TOTALLY TOTALLY WRONG. Those effected by the child care changes either at best left children with relatives for care or worse left them alone. But folks, I can tell you from personal experience as a DHS caseworker, I have seen a huge uptick in deleting incomes. When you lose your job because of childcare issues it’s an economic death sentence. WORK IS SO SO SO HARD TO COME BY right now. I can honestly say that it’s rare when I’m adding income to a case. Now I can’t tell if the uptick is due to the childcare issue or just economic decline. Regardless jobs are not here. You can’t just go out and get another job. This is a total myth. People are so so vulnerable right now. This is the reality. I’m not going off on you Wensicia. Yours was an excellent post. But I just have to scream at the top of my voice that it’s NOT GOING BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS. So much damage is either permanent or completely debilitating. - AlabamaShake - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:18 am: McSweeney and moderate in the same sentence. Who would have thought? But seriously, good for him and Harris. We need more like them - they may be conservative, but they’re thoughtful and reasonable and want to actually get things done. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:25 am: Last week I sensed what I called, “anti-Dunkins” among ILGOP. Dunkin stooged himself earlier, yet we didn’t really see dramatic change from the administration until last week. So I thought I sensed something bigger among the ILGOP Credible legislators. Good. About time. Thank you Jim Edgar for the work you have been doing this year behind the scenes, and the public pressure you put on yourself for stating the obvious. - justacitizen - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:45 am: ===I think if the Governor learned to accept, and dropped the hard line on the three poison pills, in favor of many of the other reforms in the two compromise proposals, things could move forward much more easily.=== Is there no room for improvement in any aspectrs of prevailing wage, union bargaining, or workers comp? Maybe, if Madigan were willing to look at tweaks to these “poison pills”, Rauner might be willing to deal too. - nona - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:46 am: == why don’t they get more publicity == Because they haven’t taken votes against their party bosses, and certainly no decisive votes that hand their bosses a defeat. Complaining behind the scences is not the same. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:47 am: Obviously we need moderat Democrats (if there are any) to step up as well and broker a compromise. Obviously workers comp reform would help local governments with expenses, term limits and redistricting are popular with bipartisan majorities of VOTERS. Just because the political class sees a threat to their power is no reason to thwart the will of the electorate - Anon221 - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 10:58 am: justacitizen- “Is there no room for improvement in any aspects of prevailing wage, union bargaining, or workers comp? Maybe, if Madigan were willing to look at tweaks to these “poison pills”, Rauner might be willing to deal too.” ***** Perhaps there is, however the “BEFORE” a budget demands has caused so much hurt to the People of Illinois. These discussions should have been done AFTER a budget had been passed, not used as leverage by either side. Now there is even more work to do to achieve anything. - Anonin' - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:02 am: Perhaps a better way to looks at the week The Superstars had last week …. extra spending agreed to … about $3 billion # of anti middle class/union laws enacted… ZERO New BBF ….Dunkin’ Next on the TO Do List … closin’ border between IL and Syria - Skeptic - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:03 am: “Just because the political class sees a threat to their power is no reason to thwart the will of the electorate” Unless of course it’s a really bad (albeit popular) idea in which case they’re doing what they should be doing. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:19 am: Wow having voters choose their representatives in Springfield instead of the other way around is a “bad idea”? The current status quo has served Illinois very poorly for any neutral observer. The arrogance of the political class is breathtaking. They are very lucky few people are paying attention. - Muscular - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 11:39 am: Is another name for a “moderate Republican” a conservative Democrat? They call themselves Republicans but are uncomfortable with doing what is necessary to create a smaller, limited government. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:00 pm: Why Muscular? They aren’t Republicans because they don’t agree with 100% of everything you think they should agree with? I love you guys who try to define what it means to be a [insert political party]. I’ll make sure to tell them they need to clear their thoughts with you next time they want to do something so you can see if they have met your litmus test. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:08 pm: @ILPundit - gracias. Well said. If Madigan also exits his ==war== bunker to talk ==peace==, we may even have a deal before January. If not, this could get worse and everyone digs back in. idk. They need each other, and the sooner they both accept that the more our state will benefit. - Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:32 pm: ==They need each other, and the sooner they both accept that the more our state will benefit.== Yes! But my fear is that while they need each other for a deal, do they want a deal? Or do they think they are better off politically blaming the other side for a failed process? - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:35 pm: ==Maybe, if Madigan were willing to look at tweaks to these “poison pills”, Rauner might be willing to deal too.== Rauner has been willing to deal from the beginning, and has agreed on many deals with reasonable negotiators, including union contracts to WC reforms. But when the leaders negotiate like children and there are no alternatives to YES or NO, it results in our current budget situation. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:37 pm: ===Rauner has been willing to deal from the beginning=== LOL - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:39 pm: ===…including union contracts to WC reforms.=== - FKA -, with respect, 1) Has AFSCME given the same contract parameters? 2) Once Rauner gets an end to Prevailing Wage and Collective Bargaining, it won’t matter. That will be the law. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:41 pm: –Rauner has been willing to deal from the beginning…– That is just a bizarre statement. Shouldn’t there be a waiting period of at least a year before engaging in ludicrous revisionist history? - Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:41 pm: For those who would characterize Rauner’s move as a “compromise’” read Honeybear’s passionate comments above. Rauner and his GOP Raunerites who helped cause this fallout owe families and day care centers A Personal Apology. They really do. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:41 pm: ===They call themselves Republicans but are uncomfortable with doing what is necessary to create a smaller, limited government.=== Slytherin Republicans rise again. Also, Rauner isn’t a Republican, Rauner is a Raunerite. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:46 pm: ===Rauner has been willing to deal from the beginning=== Then what was all that “Hang In There” all about? Hang in with your compromising ways? Sorry, even up to less than 10 days ago, “Hang In There” was a “no surrender to the Surrender Caucus”… … and I know I read that “Surrender Caucus” part… somewhere. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:46 pm: ===even up to less than 10 days ago, “Hang In There” was a “no surrender to the Surrender Caucus”…=== Exactly right. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:08 pm: OW!!!TITLE OF THE YEAR! Slytherin Republicans! I literally dropped to the floor laughing! That is so perfect. The girls and I just finished up the whole HP series (video). It’s a perfect description: Self-absorbed, ambitious, and malicious. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:12 pm: ==Yes! But my fear is that while they need each other for a deal, do they want a deal?== You nailed it, @Robert the Bruce! imho, Rauner wanted, and Madigan was prepared for, an initial fight. Nothing too ugly, but something to check each other a bit and settle into place for the next for years. Things looked good after they ==fixed== last year’s unbalanced budget. From then on, their egos led us into a downward spiral. Rauner and Madigan should have agreed on a budget, trusted each other and continued working together on reforms after the budget. Instead of building trust, they ruined what little trust they had just built. Rauner also adopted Madigan’s tactic of waiting the other guy out. He now appears content he has proven that he will wait as long as Madigan wants to wait, and even that he can beat Madigan at his own game sometimes, but it’s about time to stop the games. Madigan still appears settled on teaching Rauner a ==lesson== as a signal he is still the Alpha. He is making his first City Club appearance in 15 years as part of a ==charm offensive== and made it a point to publicly reject Rauner’s peace overture last week. These two ==generals== are about to either begin peace talks or escalate the ==war==, very soon. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:14 pm: - Honeybear -, It’s been out there for a long while, going back to Sen. Jim Oberweis trying to remove Pat Brady for supporting SSM and purity of the Republican platform. Luckily, those words were not needed lately to put into place the unfounded purity those in My Party felt they needed to place on us all. Heck, Ron Sandack was a big deal in trying and somewhat succeeding in defeating the stigma Jim Oberweis tried to place on Illinois Republicans. Boy, that was 100 years ago. Much respect, - Honeybear - - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:15 pm: ==That is just a bizarre statement.== ==and has agreed on many deals with reasonable negotiators== Pay attention to his deeds, not his words. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:17 pm: ===Rauner and Madigan should have agreed on a budget, trusted each other and continued working together on reforms after the budget. Instead of building trust, they ruined what little trust they had just built.=== Rauner made it quite clear, numerous times, no budget until the Turnaround Agenda. Bud, your glossing over “Hang In There” and the idea that not negotiating a budget WAS the tactic. It wasn’t an agreed tactic, it was Rauner’s leverage. - Skeptic - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:21 pm: Lucky: I didn’t mean to suggest that an independent map was or was not a good idea. I was countering your statement that when politicians do something counter to the populace, it’s, by definition, bad. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:30 pm: FKA, I am paying attention to deeds. I don’t know what you’re seeing, but it has no basis in reality. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:50 pm: In March, he agreed to a deal fixing last year’s unbalanced Dem budget rather than letting it fester and leveraging it. Less than two months in office. In July, he extended the AFSCME contract. In August, his appointed Comptroller reached a deal with union workers in her office. In September, he agreed to a couple of union deals. He also extended the AFSCME deal again, contingent on negotiations continuing in good faith. No lockout and no National Guard, despite the hysterical comments of some here. In October, he agreed to terms on three more union contracts. This month, he forced stricter ==corporate welfare== standards on his ==fat-cat buddies==. Last week, he agreed to unemployment insurance reforms with labor and business. Everyone should agree that if you are fired for showing up to work drunk you should not collect unemployment. Last week, he also listened to the ==moderate Republicans== who told him the child care changes went too far, and walked it back. Meanwhile, Madigan and AFSCME are busy working on failed override attempts and press pops, for which Rauner took no reprisals. His comments and actions are not inseparable. Look at his deeds, not just his public replies to Madigan or SEIU or AFSCME. They both matter. - Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:02 pm: - Formerly Known As… - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 12:35 pm: - Formerly Known As… - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 1:12 pm: “Rauner has been willing to deal from the beginning” “imho, Rauner wanted…an initial fight.” You are fully on board with the turnaround agenda I see. - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:21 pm: @OW - respectfully as always, I think the actions listed in my 1:50 pm post show Governor Rauner is willing and able to reach reasonable deals both ==sides== approve of, no matter what he says in public. I also think that not negotiating on the budget ==strategy== was the product of 1 A belief he has little leverage outside of the budget to force Speaker Madigan to agree to reasonable reforms that may be unpopular with his base 2 Playing by Madigan’s own rules. As has been discussed here, the Speaker famously waits out his opponents. No compromise or ==give==, just waits until they give him what he wants. ^Our budget situation now reflects the old Soviet-US principle of MAD.^ Hard talk and actions, but either you both establish détente and work to peace or you destroy each other and everyone around you suffers. Rauner may not have expected the ==waiting game== to last as long as it has, but once you commit to that path you are both locked in a battle of will until you both start taking steps towards détente. He obviously committed to that path before he was even elected, and his language on the campaign only escalated tensions. His actions, however, show that he is more reasonable than his language and even his budget strategy reflect imho. Respectfully -FKA- - Formerly Known As... - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:38 pm: @wordslinger - until my 1:50 comment clears the auto filter, you’ll just have to wait with great anticipation lol. @Precinct Captain - not at all. The TurnAround Agenda has flaws that are inappropriate for Illinois and me personally. It is nature to ==test== the new person. That is the ==initial fight==. Typically you mix it up a bit, then settle in to a working relationship. imho, the ==new dog== of Rauner anticipated initially testing the ==old dog== of Madigan, just as Madigan anticipated testing Rauner. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 2:44 pm: FKA, I think you’re confusing doing his job, at all, with “willing to compromise from the beginning.” - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:31 pm: in the last couple of months, I have learned some things. First, good governance and compromise mean the same thing. Keep spending, and keep raising taxes. I repeat, I can agree to taxes going up, but we have to find some expenditure reductions. - Honeybear - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 3:47 pm: FKA, How about these deeds. 1) Not collecting Fairshare. 2) Including anti collective bargaining in nearly every piece of legislation. 3) Traveling the state for weeks trying to get communities to accept the TA. 4) Good Friday Massacre mean anything to you? I mean really for every point you made, there is a tremendous amount of hostile context you are glossing over. The bottom line is that Rauner created the crisis in order to create leverage. He is in no way shape or form doing his job. - Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 4:26 pm: I would add a 5) to Honeybear’s note: 5) he helped hurt Illinois families and businesses — and did not even offer an apology. - Muscular - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 4:47 pm: Willie, I fully agree with your comments about Oberweis. Pat Brady was advancing the Republican notions of personal freedom and individual liberty in supporting SSM before Oberweis put him through the grinder. Brady’s humiliation was a disgrace. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 6:18 pm: - Muscular - It was Ron Sandack that also stood up to be counted when it mattered. I still can’t believe how long ago it was, politically, and how short of a time it was, chronologically. The Slytherins lost in the end, and Judy Baar Topinka was on the right side then too. - internal angel - Tuesday, Nov 17, 15 @ 7:56 pm: There’s s whole lot of people that need to stop enabling the Teaparty shutdown of Illinois government for political purposes. Its a disaster and both parties and the state are so politically and financially damaged at this point its ridiculous. Get a clue and get your crap together and get on with it. 99% of Illinois citizens dont give a rodents backside about the petty political games. They arent playing. - No Sense - Wednesday, Nov 18, 15 @ 6:11 pm: 1,823,627 votes for Gov.Rauner to do the job Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.